Pariplay Q&A: Setting a new standard for iGaming

We recently sat down with Adrian Bailey, the MD of Pariplay. Pariplay is an innovative iGaming company that has been making waves and becoming a “household” name in the industry, with their iGaming back-office solutions, game aggregation offering and their impressive range of in-house built games. In this interview, Adrian gave us some more insight into where Pariplay has come from and what to expect from them in the future.

14.01.2020
Adrian

Adrian Bailey, the MD of Pariplay

Just some brief facts about Pariplay before we dive into the interview:

  • Pariplay was established in 2011 with a primary focus on mobile gaming and technology
  • The company restructured in 2015 and kick-started its B2B strategy
  • They launched their first, inhouse developed slot game in 2016
  • Launched their proprietary aggregation platform called Fusion in 2017
  • Employ approximately 70 people
  • Have operational offices in India, Bulgaria and Israel
  • Hold gaming licenses in Gibraltar, Malta, Romania, UK and a NJ provisional license
  • Acquired by Aspire Global in 2019

Hi Adrian, thanks for taking the time to meet with us. Can you give us a little bit more background to yourself and your history with Pariplay?

Thank you. I have been involved in the iGaming industry for around 13 years now and joined Pariplay in early 2015, just after it was bought back from Majesco. I came into the company with the primary objective of developing and implementing a new B2B strategy.

By 2015, the iGaming B2B world was already mature with a handful of big players, so for a small company to make an entry was going to be a challenge.

I knew we had to really bring a top-notch value-add proposition if we were going to make our mark. Our hard work and commitment started paying off and since then we have grown our B2B partner base to more than 100 operators worldwide with in excess of 500 online brands.

Our game aggregation library currently boasts over 2,000 titles from most of the major vendors and plenty of small boutique developers too, including a portfolio of over 100 in-house built games, which we have built up over the years. In the last 4 years alone, we’ve achieved incredible growth and I feel that we’re now on the verge of catapulting Pariplay to the next level and becoming market leaders.

What do you think has been the reason for Pariplay’s success in the B2B space in such a short period of time?

First and foremost, we developed our mission and culture around the concept of being an entertainment technology-driven company rather than a gambling company. To quote the movie, Field of Dreams: “Build it and they will come”. In essence, instead of setting our sights on the monetary rewards, we focused on building innovative technologies, engaging games and exceptional service.

We knew once we had a compelling and true value-add offering, it would sell itself and we could deliver on our commitments and promises with confidence.

The other crucial component was to ensure a culture of transparency and service excellence. The entire Pariplay work ethic is about open, honest communication and building mutually beneficial relationships. By ensuring all parties in the chain, from suppliers, vendors, employees and clients are satisfied, everyone works with a different focus and common goal.

What does the acquisition of Pariplay by Aspire Global mean for the company?

At Pariplay, we have achieved exceptional growth in recent years through natural organic growth, however, with our sights set on even more, we knew we needed a strategic partner.

Aspire Global is the perfect strategic partner as we share clear synergies and long term aspirations.

The two companies will continue to operate individually but will support each other strategically, plus Aspire’s amazing distribution capability will enable us to vastly increase our current growth trajectory and help the company to scale at a much faster pace.

What are Pariplay’s vision and strategy moving forward?

We have two very distinct components to the business. Firstly, our amazing content and secondly, our Fusion back-office and aggregation solution. We, therefore, have set ourselves two distinct corporate objectives, both of which are part of our 5-year growth plan:

1) To be the world’s No. 1 value-add iGaming aggregator with our Fusion™ platform. We have already done extensive research and developed an action plan. Key drivers will be focusing on driving up player values for our operators with our range of marketing tools and secondly, aggressive expansion into more regulated EU territories and now that we’ve received our provisional NJ license, we will begin our expansion plans into the US market.

2) To deliver best in class, innovative, feature-driven slots content. We have already started scaling up our capabilities and volume by opening an additional development center in India that has enabled us to shorten game development lead times substantially.

What is your favourite game and why?

That’s a tough one as there are many games in recent times that I think are awesome. I think if I had to pick one, it would be Rumble Rhino.

The game has fantastic graphics and animations including an innovative 4x4 mega symbol, but we also introduced a new math engine that brings a well-optimized hit rate. By finding the perfect balance, the game engages players and keeps them playing.

Finally, and most importantly, the game highlights the plight of the rhinoceros and we tied the launch in with SRI (Save the Rhino International), a non-profit conservation organization. What made this game so successful was the collaboration between the designers, dev, marketing and SRI. Everything just came together perfectly and resulted in a really top-notch slot.

Why do you think players should play your Pariplay games?

One of the things that we really try to focus on is the player experience.

Yes, we have fantastic storylines, graphics and features in our games, but if players never get to experience the features, then they are worthless. This is why we put so much emphasis on ensuring reasonable hit rates on our features. Like this, even casual players are able to enjoy the full features of our games without having to spend loads of cash. I think this brings the entertainment value back to the gambling space rather than just trying to make games that draw money from players and leave them with a poor experience.

What are your predictions for the gaming industry?

The industry is really becoming exciting and will see continuous growth, especially as more regulation comes into effect and in particular, country-specific regulation comes into play for various reasons. I know it sounds a little crazy, but while regulation has made certain components more challenging, it’s actually allowed for more strategic focus by knowing the rules and it reduces investment risk.

The tightened regulations will also help shed the dubious operators and increase player confidence. The EU market is still showing growth and I think it will continue on this path, but the real interesting market will be the US which is still a fledgeling market that is going to provide incredible opportunities.

Any exciting or special things in the pipeline you can share with us?

Part of our new mission is to generate maximum value for our operators. In order to do this, we have developed a 2 prong approach. The first is the development of back-office tools that give the operators more functionality and better management, and the second are games that engage players even more.

In terms of the back-office, our new tournament tool lets operators set up and manage tournaments across multiple game vendors. This means that operators can run tournaments without being limited to a single vendor, plus this can be presented in-game in real-time, so the player is always aware they are in a competition. The flexible approach means it can be self-funded by player participation or using a pre-determined prize pool.

We see this our tournament tool as an industry game-changer and will be showcasing it for the first time at ICE 2020!

The second prong is what we call strategic game development. A few years back we released a slot based on a well known Valiant Comics character called Bloodshot. Our deal with Valiant gives us the rights to produce the next Valiant slot called Bloodshot Rising. But, what makes this even more amazing is Valiant will be releasing their Bloodshot movie at around the same time and this marks their entry into the big screen movie space alongside other big comic brands that have been garnering the silver screen for some years.

Any final thoughts or comments?

Pariplay is now poised and entering an exciting new phase with the Aspire Global acquisition. We now have a much more defined strategy and are ready for explosive growth opportunities.

We will continue to focus on our core values of delivering exceptional technological products that increase player values, coupled with unbeatable service while providing our team with a great working environment and making them part of the success. I think giving everyone within the team the opportunity to feel successful within their day to day work and the ability to make an impact within the company is invaluable and creates an amazing energy within the group.

Keep watching this space and get ready for great things from Pariplay.

 

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